Moss Tongue’s debut EP “Heaven, You’re Almost Here” is dark, hopeless, and beautiful

Massachusetts post-shoegaze band Moss Tongue released their debut EP “Heaven, You’re Almost Here” on November 10th and we have not stopped listening since. Meshing Emo, Hardcore, and Shoegaze into what is an overwhelmingly dreary and haunting sound, 7 song EP “Heaven, You’re Almost Here” has made us fast fans of the band.

The first song on the EP (and the song that was released as the single for the EP) “muck” sets listeners up with an understanding of exactly what Moss Tongue is about; ambient guitar, aggressive vocals, and drums that very much carry the song along.

“So cold”, the third song on this EP lives more in the emo realm that what we’ve heard prior. With less screaming, the catchiest chorus of all the songs, and upbeat instrumentals, this song is the bop of the album. It is almost impossible to listen to this song without bobbing your head along.

Next up, “air to breathe” brings us right back to ambient guitar and hollowing lyrics, like “Am I troubled? What is haunting me? A spectacle of shaken skull, throbbing full of thin veins screaming for some air to breathe” and the vocalist (Max Fagnant) is painting grotesque, bone chilling imagery that’s really impressive to see for a debut EP. Everything they sing about is scratched into the listeners brain and very clearly visualized, which might be one of my favorite parts of this band.

The second to last song, (or the last song, depending on how you feel), “Left In A Hurry” is another song you can’t stop moving to. This song also does an excellent job using the imagery we talked about. It’s clear by now that this EP is definitely a “no-skip” EP. Every one of the songs are excellent, regardless of the different genres they utilize.

The final “song” on the EP, (and the title track) feels like a nightmare. Ambient guitar meets a voice recording entailing whisper-haunting details of thoughts of suicide. The entire thing is chilling and leaves you feeling the ultimate despair of the whole production. I think it was an excellent way to close out the EP, and makes for an excellent loop when it circles back to the opening song.

As we’ve said before, every song in this EP is excellent in its own way. It’s dark, it’s violent, it’s helpless. But more than that, it’s interesting, musically solid, and well produced. We liked this release so much it actually ended up in our top 10 listens for the month of November, and we are more than excited for what’s coming next for the band Moss Tongue.

LISTEN HERE